Breakthrough in Smoking Aces scandal

POLICE have made a breakthrough in Victoria's biggest race-fixing probe, uncovering CCTV vision of a relative of Danny Nikolic collecting winnings on a race that the disgraced jockey allegedly fixed.

The winnings collected were from bets placed by a third party who police suspect was used by Nikolic to disguise his betting on the race.

The CCTV vision from Crown Casino is likely to form part of any criminal case launched against Nikolic and a second jockey, Mark Zahra, over allegations they conspired to manipulate the outcome of a race won by Smoking Aces at Cranbourne in April 2011.

Zahra is alleged to have been paid a $3000 kickback by Nikolic to ride his horse in a way that favoured Nikolic's mount, Smoking Aces.

Police recently completed a brief of evidence against Nikolic and sent it to the Office of Public Prosecutions for consideration.

As the racing world waits to see if Nikolic is charged, police have been ramping up their campaign to ban underworld figures from racetracks and the casino.

Offenders have been stung with the notices because of suspicions they are laundering money, corrupting officials and consorting with fellow criminals.

Fairfax Media recently revealed that two of those banned this year are Danny Nikolic and his brother, former horse trainer John, who is also implicated in the Smoking Aces scandal.

Police said casino and racing exclusion notices kept crime figures and undesirables in check by stopping them flashing their wealth in gaming rooms and betting rings.

Detective Superintendent Neil Paterson would not reveal the offending that had led to the notices, but Fairfax Media understands Asian crime gangs have adopted new methods to launder profits from burgeoning drug enterprises at Crown Casino.

Detective Superintendent Paterson said those banned included high-profile criminals and some who have received little public exposure.

Chief Commissioner Ken Lay is given an intelligence dossier on each offender before deciding on a ban.

Ten people were placed on the register this year, the most since 2006 - the year Tony Mokbel, who was issued with an exclusion order in 2005, fled the country while on bail for drugs charges, and when gangland identity Mario Condello was gunned down.

''The decisions made by the Chief Commissioner are to disrupt organised crime identities from attending the casino and racetracks and using those venues to launder money,'' Detective Superintendent Paterson said. ''The exclusion order regime is useful in that we don't see many breaches of the orders issued. It's certainly a good disruption technique.

''Certainly, well-known identities that the media often report on are some of the people that we focus on, not because of the reporting but because they come to our attention for their criminal offending.''

There are 44 people who have been banned, with no orders lapsed, and Detective Superintendent Paterson said he could not recall a notice being appealed. He said it was hard to measure if banning more offenders had reduced crime, but there was no doubt the integrity of the casino and racetracks was better protected by reducing the chance for criminals to legitimise their wealth.

None of those banned this year appeared to be targeting problem gamblers to launder money, a police spokeswoman said.

''There have been a number of individuals excluded this year of varying nationality - the reasons for exclusion range from reducing money laundering, deterring [the] corrupting influence of organised crime figures in casino and racing processes, consorting and organised crime associations.''

A Racing Victoria spokeswoman said the chief steward was given a list of banned persons and a picture, where possible.